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Into Avernus
Into Avernus was a campaign set in the year 710LN that involved three Blackstaves agents and one cultist of Tiamat travelling to the plane of Avernus in the Nine Hells of Baator in order to hunt down Bridge members that had taken captives from the Blackstaves. Members The three Blackstaves that were sent to the Hells were; Maith'Thrix, the druid trap-master, Muithadus Varun, the bardic expert on the Hells, Skymore, the paladin of Solonar. They were then accompanied into the Hells with the cultist of Tiamat, Valleon, an inquisitor of the Dragon Queen. Each came with their own personal motivations for travelling to the Hells, taking advantage of the journey while also carrying out the orders of Eol'din, the leader of the Blackstaves. Setup Following the events of a previous adventure, the Bridge in Telinor had become emboldened and were willing to attack larger caravans than before. After one such raid, the Bridge members discovered a blade capable of opening portals to the plane of Baator and after interrogating the wizard that discovered the weapon to learn of its companion blade along with the threat that it possessed, they set off to travel to the Hells and destroy the blade before Eol'din could get it. Hidal, of the Order of the Bladed Scholar, pursued these Bridge agents attempting to stop them, ultimately failing to prevent then killing one of the Blackstaff hostages they had taken who they slew in order to travel to Avernus, the first layer of Baator. Eol'din assembled the forces of the Blackstaves, calling upon the best people available to enter Avernus, along with calling on a contact in the cult of Tiamat to open the portal to the Eyrie, as the Hells had been inaccessible for a number of months. Rumjal's Game Boards After arriving in the Hells and getting passage through the Eyrie into Avernus, the group arrived in the territory of Rumjal which was filled with gigantic chessboards which appeared to have been desecrated by other devils. The group was cornered by a pack of the hounds of Amsodeus who were seeking mortal's flesh like those of the Bridge that had passed through recently. The group slew the lesser beasts and one of the greater Barghest which prompted the other to flee. After climbing over the rocks that blocked their path the group saw a member of the Bridge being tortured, with a contract devil floating nearby offering him a deal to release him in exchange for his soul. The group killed the man and talked with the devil, Maith preparing a trap for the devil whilst Varun distracted him by pretending to be interested in a contract. The group fought the devil, Varun convincing them of its dangers as he sought one of his contracts for his experiments. The group defeated the devil and forced him into subservience to a contract, Varun also took one of the contracts the devil had over a Telinor wizard that had been researching the artefacts of the hells. Duskur's Silent Plains The group then travelled into the territory of Lady Duskur, the Silent Planes where all music is sacrilege, but the voice of the Dark Lady herself. There they saw various armies marching along a bone covered road ahead of them, which they eventually caught up with. They saw the army investigate a damaged Iron Tower, sending a few of their number inside and moving on. As the group approached they saw a white cloth hanging from the top of the tower, a sign that mortals from Tolas recognise as being a call for aid. When they entered the tower, they found the devils that had entered pinned against the wall with ice spikes through their bodies. Two humans from the Bridge were cowering behind a makeshift barricade at the base of the stairs, when the group called to them to halt they were dragged upstairs by an unseen force. When the group pursued they discovered corrupted angel devils in a bell-tower which its sound seemed to be deadly to devils with these angel creatures seeming to have been driven deaf either by the bell or by their own act. The group defeated the creatures after destroying the bell, bringing down the supports on the angels. The group began to interrogate the Bridge members, discovering the corpse of one of the hostages nearby. After learning what they could from the humans the group executed them by throwing them off the tower and leaving them for the monsters of hell to find them. They set off across the plains, following the army towards another Iron Tower where the remaining hostage was. As they approached, they were spotted by Duskur's forces, and the lady herself approached them. After revealing that they were responsible for destroying the bell-tower she agreed to allow them to advance through her forces to the Iron Tower of Moloch. Moloch's Sealed TowerCategory:Campaigns They reached the battle that raged around the tower, the army of Duskur creating a gap to allow them to move through their forces, pushing against and falling back to the forces of Moloch, allowing them to reach the gates of the tower where Moloch himself. The failed Archdevil roared at the intruders, more annoyed at their presence than actually hostile, he gave them permission to enter the tower to pursue the last Bridge member and hostage. The tower had been sealed against outsiders of the devil type, so the mortals from the material plane were able to enter unharmed. Once inside they discovered various magical weapons and rooms with contracts and valuables. For some reason, the Blackstaves in the group were so distracted by these artefacts that the cultist of Tiamat, Valleon, was able to sneak up to the top floor throne room. There he saw the woman he believed to be Quenta Vean bearing the Turathi Blade, in a conversation with the last Bridge member who bore the dagger and gripped the last Blackstaff hostage. Valleon prepared his spells of stealth and haste, quickly approaching the girl unseen by either party and began casting his spell to teleport her and himself back to the Eyrie. Unfortunately, the blade functioned like a dimensional anchor and when they reached the barrier blocking outsiders on the bottom floor they were both hurled against the walls. Skymore rushed down to aid Valleon and Maith and Varun travelled up to the throne room hearing the shrieks of the young hostage girl. Valleon was outmatched by the woman and the evil blade receiving many near-fatal wounds as they duelled, finally luck more than anything defeated the she-devil, as he blade became entangled in Valleon's spiked chain she inadvertently drew the blade too close to her face, poking herself in the eyes blinding her temporarily, enough time for Valleon to disarm her and complete the spell ritual, sending them both to the Eyrie gateway. Skymore grabbed the blade and returned to his companions atop the tower, where they had also been locked in a battle with the Bridge member, Rakim. Maith summoned a storm of lightning in the room to strike the man down, turning into a tangle of roots and vines to confound the man who called out to the Hells to reveal a terrifying vision of the landscape outside forcing its horror upon the men. Finally, Maith killed the man, his corpse realising a gout of steam from the many lightning strikes and Varun quickly removed his heart using the dagger, opening a ''gate ''portal back to Tolas as Moloch's forces stormed the throne room. Repercussions The results of this event were many, with the core result being that Eol'din gained the two Turathi artefacts from ancient times. Other results include: Maith Thrix returned home with his daughter, vowing that that was his final adventure, the Blackstaves gained access to a contract devil that was bound to their will, though reluctantly, thanks to Varun, Skymore recovered various devil hearts which will serve as powerful reagents in Blackstaff magicks and Valleon gained a place in the Eyrie serving the gatekeeper of the Baator portal. Quenta was interrogated by the Cult of Tiamat who learned from her the whisperings of the blade and what Eol'din could be planning. Whatever they learned from her, the contact that Eol'din used to get an agent was stripped of her status within the Cult. The politics of Avernus shifted slightly, as the interloper Quenta was removed allowing Moloch access to his powerful magic weapons to push Duskur back to her Silent Plains where she moved against Rumjal, who is the true loser in all this. Category:The Nine Hells Category:Fall of Eol'din